Witnesses across Norway all described seeing a spinning "Catherine wheel-style" spiral of white light, centered around a bright moon-like star. A blue "streaming tail" appeared to anchor the spiral to earth, before the light "exploded" into a rotating ring of white fire.

Sightings of the spiral spectacle, which lasted for two minutes, were reported as far north as Finnmark to Trondelag in the south.

Chief Scientist Erik Tandberg, at the Norwegian Space Centre, said that he too was "totally amazed" by the spiral.

He agreed with many other experts that the spiral pattern could have been caused by a missile from Russia — something the Russian military have strongly denied.